core-agent-ide/codex-rs
Charley Cunningham 226241f035
Use workspace requirements for guardian prompt override (#14727)
## Summary
- move `guardian_developer_instructions` from managed config into
workspace-managed `requirements.toml`
- have guardian continue using the override when present and otherwise
fall back to the bundled local guardian prompt
- keep the generalized prompt-quality improvements in the shared
guardian default prompt
- update requirements parsing, layering, schema, and tests for the new
source of truth

## Context
This replaces the earlier managed-config / MDM rollout plan.

The intended rollout path is workspace-managed requirements, including
cloud enterprise policies, rather than backend model metadata, Statsig,
or Jamf-managed config. That keeps the default/fallback behavior local
to `codex-rs` while allowing faster policy updates through the
enterprise requirements plane.

This is intentionally an admin-managed policy input, not a user
preference: the guardian prompt should come either from the bundled
`codex-rs` default or from enterprise-managed `requirements.toml`, and
normal user/project/session config should not override it.

## Updating The OpenAI Prompt
After this lands, the OpenAI-specific guardian prompt should be updated
through the workspace Policies UI at `/codex/settings/policies` rather
than through Jamf or codex-backend model metadata.

Operationally:
- open the workspace Policies editor as a Codex admin
- edit the default `requirements.toml` policy, or a higher-precedence
group-scoped override if we ever want different behavior for a subset of
users
- set `guardian_developer_instructions = """..."""` to the full
OpenAI-specific guardian prompt text
- save the policy; codex-backend stores the raw TOML and `codex-rs`
fetches the effective requirements file from `/wham/config/requirements`

When updating the OpenAI-specific prompt, keep it aligned with the
shared default guardian policy in `codex-rs` except for intentional
OpenAI-only additions.

## Testing
- `cargo check --tests -p codex-core -p codex-config -p
codex-cloud-requirements --message-format short`
- `cargo run -p codex-core --bin codex-write-config-schema`
- `cargo fmt`
- `git diff --check`

Co-authored-by: Codex <noreply@openai.com>
2026-03-17 22:05:41 -07:00
..
.cargo Fix release build take (#12865) 2026-02-25 20:59:07 -08:00
.config Stabilize protocol schema fixture generation (#13886) 2026-03-09 13:51:50 -07:00
.github/workflows
ansi-escape feat: add support for building with Bazel (#8875) 2026-01-09 11:09:43 -08:00
app-server Use workspace requirements for guardian prompt override (#14727) 2026-03-17 22:05:41 -07:00
app-server-client Move TUI on top of app server (parallel code) (#14717) 2026-03-16 10:49:19 -06:00
app-server-protocol Gate realtime audio interruption logic to v2 (#14984) 2026-03-17 15:24:37 -07:00
app-server-test-client Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
apply-patch Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
arg0 feat: pass helper executable paths via Arg0DispatchPaths (#12719) 2026-02-24 17:44:38 -08:00
artifacts Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
async-utils feat: add support for building with Bazel (#8875) 2026-01-09 11:09:43 -08:00
backend-client Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
chatgpt Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
cli fix: honor active permission profiles in sandbox debug (#14293) 2026-03-18 01:52:02 +00:00
cloud-requirements Use workspace requirements for guardian prompt override (#14727) 2026-03-17 22:05:41 -07:00
cloud-tasks Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
cloud-tasks-client Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
codex-api Prefer websockets when providers support them (#13592) 2026-03-17 19:46:44 -07:00
codex-backend-openapi-models feat: support multiple rate limits (#11260) 2026-02-10 20:09:31 -08:00
codex-client feat(app-server, core): add more spans (#14479) 2026-03-13 13:16:33 -07:00
codex-experimental-api-macros Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
config Use workspace requirements for guardian prompt override (#14727) 2026-03-17 22:05:41 -07:00
connectors [apps] Add tool_suggest tool. (#14287) 2026-03-11 22:06:59 -07:00
core Use workspace requirements for guardian prompt override (#14727) 2026-03-17 22:05:41 -07:00
debug-client Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
docs chore(app-server): delete v1 RPC methods and notifications (#13375) 2026-03-03 13:18:25 -08:00
environment Add FS abstraction and use in view_image (#14960) 2026-03-17 17:36:23 -07:00
exec fix(linux-sandbox): prefer system /usr/bin/bwrap when available (#14963) 2026-03-17 23:05:34 +00:00
execpolicy Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
execpolicy-legacy Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
feedback Add timestamps to feedback log lines (#13688) 2026-03-06 07:34:59 -07:00
file-search Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
hooks Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
keyring-store feat: add support for building with Bazel (#8875) 2026-01-09 11:09:43 -08:00
linux-sandbox fix(linux-sandbox): prefer system /usr/bin/bwrap when available (#14963) 2026-03-17 23:05:34 +00:00
lmstudio Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
login Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
mcp-server Cleanup skills/remote/xxx endpoints. (#14977) 2026-03-17 15:22:36 -07:00
network-proxy Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
ollama chore: nuke chat/completions API (#10157) 2026-02-03 11:31:57 +00:00
otel Add auth env observability (#14905) 2026-03-17 14:26:27 -07:00
package-manager chore: ultra-clean artifacts (#13577) 2026-03-05 13:03:01 +00:00
process-hardening feat: add support for building with Bazel (#8875) 2026-01-09 11:09:43 -08:00
protocol Prefer websockets when providers support them (#13592) 2026-03-17 19:46:44 -07:00
responses-api-proxy Update pnpm versions to fix cve-2026-24842 (#12009) 2026-02-19 14:27:55 -08:00
rmcp-client Apply argument comment lint across codex-rs (#14652) 2026-03-16 16:48:15 -07:00
scripts Upgrade to rust 1.93 (#10080) 2026-01-28 17:46:18 +00:00
secrets Move sanitizer into codex-secrets (#12306) 2026-02-20 22:47:54 +00:00
shell-command Collapse parsed command summaries when any stage is unknown (#13043) 2026-03-03 19:45:34 +00:00
shell-escalation fix: preserve zsh-fork escalation fds across unified-exec spawn paths (#13644) 2026-03-13 20:25:31 +00:00
skills skill-creator: default new skills to ~/.codex/skills (#14837) 2026-03-16 18:36:11 -07:00
state Feat: CXA-1831 Persist latest model and reasoning effort in sqlite (#14859) 2026-03-17 10:14:34 -07:00
stdio-to-uds Fix stdio-to-uds peer-close flake (#13882) 2026-03-12 09:52:50 -07:00
test-macros feat: add large stack test macro (#12768) 2026-02-25 13:19:21 +00:00
tui Use workspace requirements for guardian prompt override (#14727) 2026-03-17 22:05:41 -07:00
tui_app_server Use workspace requirements for guardian prompt override (#14727) 2026-03-17 22:05:41 -07:00
utils Add FS abstraction and use in view_image (#14960) 2026-03-17 17:36:23 -07:00
vendor build(linux-sandbox): always compile vendored bubblewrap on Linux; remove CODEX_BWRAP_ENABLE_FFI (#11498) 2026-02-11 21:30:41 -08:00
windows-sandbox-rs feat: support restricted ReadOnlyAccess in elevated Windows sandbox (#14610) 2026-03-17 19:08:50 -07:00
.gitignore
BUILD.bazel Add feature-gated freeform js_repl core runtime (#10674) 2026-02-11 12:05:02 -08:00
Cargo.lock Add FS abstraction and use in view_image (#14960) 2026-03-17 17:36:23 -07:00
Cargo.toml Add FS abstraction and use in view_image (#14960) 2026-03-17 17:36:23 -07:00
clippy.toml
config.md
default.nix fix(nix): include libcap dependency on linux builds (#12415) 2026-02-20 19:32:15 -08:00
deny.toml feat: external artifacts builder (#13485) 2026-03-04 20:22:34 +00:00
node-version.txt Reduce js_repl Node version requirement to 22.22.0 (#12857) 2026-02-26 04:09:30 +00:00
README.md feat: memories in workspace write (#13467) 2026-03-04 13:00:26 +00:00
rust-toolchain.toml Revert "chore(deps): bump rust-toolchain from 1.93.0 to 1.93.1 in /co…dex-rs (#11886)" (#12035) 2026-02-17 12:29:03 -08:00
rustfmt.toml

Codex CLI (Rust Implementation)

We provide Codex CLI as a standalone, native executable to ensure a zero-dependency install.

Installing Codex

Today, the easiest way to install Codex is via npm:

npm i -g @openai/codex
codex

You can also install via Homebrew (brew install --cask codex) or download a platform-specific release directly from our GitHub Releases.

Documentation quickstart

What's new in the Rust CLI

The Rust implementation is now the maintained Codex CLI and serves as the default experience. It includes a number of features that the legacy TypeScript CLI never supported.

Config

Codex supports a rich set of configuration options. Note that the Rust CLI uses config.toml instead of config.json. See docs/config.md for details.

Model Context Protocol Support

MCP client

Codex CLI functions as an MCP client that allows the Codex CLI and IDE extension to connect to MCP servers on startup. See the configuration documentation for details.

MCP server (experimental)

Codex can be launched as an MCP server by running codex mcp-server. This allows other MCP clients to use Codex as a tool for another agent.

Use the @modelcontextprotocol/inspector to try it out:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector codex mcp-server

Use codex mcp to add/list/get/remove MCP server launchers defined in config.toml, and codex mcp-server to run the MCP server directly.

Notifications

You can enable notifications by configuring a script that is run whenever the agent finishes a turn. The notify documentation includes a detailed example that explains how to get desktop notifications via terminal-notifier on macOS. When Codex detects that it is running under WSL 2 inside Windows Terminal (WT_SESSION is set), the TUI automatically falls back to native Windows toast notifications so approval prompts and completed turns surface even though Windows Terminal does not implement OSC 9.

codex exec to run Codex programmatically/non-interactively

To run Codex non-interactively, run codex exec PROMPT (you can also pass the prompt via stdin) and Codex will work on your task until it decides that it is done and exits. Output is printed to the terminal directly. You can set the RUST_LOG environment variable to see more about what's going on. Use codex exec --ephemeral ... to run without persisting session rollout files to disk.

Experimenting with the Codex Sandbox

To test to see what happens when a command is run under the sandbox provided by Codex, we provide the following subcommands in Codex CLI:

# macOS
codex sandbox macos [--full-auto] [--log-denials] [COMMAND]...

# Linux
codex sandbox linux [--full-auto] [COMMAND]...

# Windows
codex sandbox windows [--full-auto] [COMMAND]...

# Legacy aliases
codex debug seatbelt [--full-auto] [--log-denials] [COMMAND]...
codex debug landlock [--full-auto] [COMMAND]...

Selecting a sandbox policy via --sandbox

The Rust CLI exposes a dedicated --sandbox (-s) flag that lets you pick the sandbox policy without having to reach for the generic -c/--config option:

# Run Codex with the default, read-only sandbox
codex --sandbox read-only

# Allow the agent to write within the current workspace while still blocking network access
codex --sandbox workspace-write

# Danger! Disable sandboxing entirely (only do this if you are already running in a container or other isolated env)
codex --sandbox danger-full-access

The same setting can be persisted in ~/.codex/config.toml via the top-level sandbox_mode = "MODE" key, e.g. sandbox_mode = "workspace-write". In workspace-write, Codex also includes ~/.codex/memories in its writable roots so memory maintenance does not require an extra approval.

Code Organization

This folder is the root of a Cargo workspace. It contains quite a bit of experimental code, but here are the key crates:

  • core/ contains the business logic for Codex. Ultimately, we hope this to be a library crate that is generally useful for building other Rust/native applications that use Codex.
  • exec/ "headless" CLI for use in automation.
  • tui/ CLI that launches a fullscreen TUI built with Ratatui.
  • cli/ CLI multitool that provides the aforementioned CLIs via subcommands.

If you want to contribute or inspect behavior in detail, start by reading the module-level README.md files under each crate and run the project workspace from the top-level codex-rs directory so shared config, features, and build scripts stay aligned.